Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles sounds off on the band's new CD, Jazz Fest and more

Sugarland releases its fourth studio album, “The Incredible Machine,” on Tuesday, Oct. 19. On it, vocalist Jennifer Nettles once again deploys one of the most potent female voices in contemporary country music, even as she and guitarist and co-writer Kristian Bush flash influences far afield of Nashville. (Remember late-‘80s rock band the Alarm? Nettles does.)

Photo by Dana TyanSugarland's Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush

Former Better Than Ezra drummer Travis McNabb handles most drums on “The Incredible Machine”; he’s also a member of Sugarland’s touring band, along with fellow New Orleanian Annie Clements, a bassist and backing vocalist. Better Than Ezra frontman Kevin Griffin co-wrote two songs on “The Incredible Machine,” “Tonight” and the first single, “Stuck Like Glue.”

Nettles called from a recent tour stop to discuss the new record, the influence of John Cusack and the Cure, and why she’d like to take a mulligan for Sugarland’s set at the 2009 New Orleans Jazz at Heritage Festival presented by Shell.

TP: What do drummer Travis McNabb and bassist Annie Clements bring to the band?

Nettles: They are wonderful people and bring a great gift of their personalities. Musically, they have something. We’re affected by where we are from. It’s much like wine and the concept of terroir, where the land and everything in the soil ultimately influences the grape and consequently the wine. Music is the same thing. You can feel the New Orleans in both of their music styles. There’s a nice Southern back beat to it, there’s a fatness to it, that is Southern and specifically New Orleans. I love that flavor.

Do you feel the tug of that rhythm section influencing the way you write?

Travis recorded the majority of the tracks on the new record with us; he’s a wonderful studio musician as well as a live musician. Where we are as writers right now, his drum stylings are well-suited for that. I don’t know that it necessarily informs or guides where we go. But as it is a nice fit, it was a good place to have him come in and join us on the record.

That is not the norm in Nashville, to use the road band in the studio. Did you think he was specifically suited to this material?

We thought he was specifically suited for this new material. Kristian has known him for years and played with him on other projects (specifically Billy Pilgrim, an Atlanta-based acoustic rock duo, in the early ‘90s). He really was a great match for this new material.

Travis has a pedigree that isn’t necessarily Nashville, but neither are all the influences on this record. The guitar on “Find the Beat Again” is like a Fountains of Wayne song, and there’s your dancehall reggae breakdown on “Stuck Like Glue.” Having players that aren’t strictly Nashville players….

….feels authentic. If the music is leaning in that direction, then it feels authentic to have the players that also lean in those directions.

And Travis is a fine dresser.

He is a sporty, dapper dresser.

You've said that one advantage of having Annie in the band is she can render judgment on whether you look good in a certain pair of jeans.

(Laughs). Absolutely. Outside of her huge talent as a player and singer, it’s also nice to have a girl in the band so you can play girl every once in a while and say, “Ooo, what do you think about this?” or “Would you like to wear this?” I offer things her way and she offers things my way. It’s fun.

Did you write “All We Are” thinking it could be a concert opener? It sounds like it, with the invocation followed by the big kick-off.

It's a little bit chicken or egg. I don’t know if we were thinking of opening the show with it and then wrote it, or if once we wrote it said, “Ooo, let’s open the show with this.” It does have the grandeur of that fanfare at the top of it, which was a nod to the Alarm. They used to have that going on.

Some people might think that’s an obscure late’80s band. But if you like it, you like it. Good music is good music. To have those influences and be able to insert those into our writing….you can’t help it. What you put in, you put out.

What else did you channel overtly?

I was going through a big Cure revival at the time. On the track “Tonight,” there is some of that dark, brooding, longing. It’s in a different part of my range, which is lower, which allows for a different emotional expression.

Also, do you remember the movie “Say Anything,” with John Cusack? There’s a scene where John’s character Lloyd Dobler is holding up the boombox outside of Diane Court’s house and playing Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes.” We were thinking, “If that movie was now, let’s right a song that could be played on that boombox in that moment.” “Tonight” is the song we wrote from that inspiration.

On “Every Girl Like Me,” did you intentionally sing a bit like Alanis Morissette?

No, but I’ll have to go back and listen with that in my brain.

The ability to wail like you do in “All We Are” must be very….

…liberating. So liberating. It’s an on top of the mountain moment, so fun to do as a singer.

How does the breakdown in “Stuck Like Glue” go down with audiences?

They love it. They get their groove on. They’re breaking it down themselves out there.

What was the inspiration for “Shine the Light,” the piano ballad that closes the album?

I wrote “Shine the Light” as a gift for Kristian. He was going through a hard time personally. We were having a conversation about that time in his life and in the course of the conversation, I said, “There are places that we have to go on our own. No matter how much the people we love want to help, we can only go there by ourselves. We have to go into those woods, and hopefully when we get there, we will see the lights of all the people that love us along the periphery to guide us out.” Consequently, that became the inspiration behind that song. I hope it’s one people play for people they love who are going through a hard time.

The relationship between you and Kristian seems like a very close brother and sister situation.

It’s very familial in that way, and very much brother and sister in that way. We create together, which is bonding. Creating is such a vulnerable experience. You have to put yourself out there and be willing to put your ego aside or at times be willing to have that ego questioned and put in check. That builds trust, and that trust builds a strong relationship.

Do you have veto rights on each other’s writing?

Yeah. We are totally open in that way: “No, how about this?” “How about we do it this way?” Or, if we feel strongly about it, to say, “I’ll arm wrestle you for this one. I feel like it’s right.” We have a nice flow and a deep respect for each other in that way.

Has the way you write together changed with the success of the band? You have more ears listening now, the stakes are higher.

If anything, I would say it’s more liberating. When we were first starting out and you’re trying to prove yourself and get your foot in the door and figure out your sound, you have some hits and you have some misses. What we’ve found is where we stretch and offer something that’s fresh and different and pull from our other influences are the things for which we are most rewarded. I don’t know if it’s because it sounds fresh and different, or because it is authentic to us and has the emotional connection. I don’t know what that alchemy is. But that’s where we’ve been strongly embraced.

What that’s done is encourage us to continue to stretch, evolve, grow and offer our fans new things as writers, which is such a gift. Especially because I get bored with the same things over and over again. I’ve written “Stay.” Why would I want to write it again? We’ve written “Baby Girl.” Why would we want to write it again?

Some people, from a business standpoint, can get scared and box themselves in, and that’s a shame. They continue to try to repeat the same pattern and formula over and over again. I feel very grateful and lucky that our success has informed our writing in such a way to continue to encourage our growth.

Your voice will always be the touchstone for the country music world.

It’s still us, it still sounds like us because it’s still me singing, even if I allow myself to explore other parts of my range or other ways of emoting. It’s still us and what we do.

Even if you detour into Cure territory.

Exactly, darling.

The “hey, hey” chorus in “Find the Beat Again” is very rock ‘n’ roll, almost Bon Jovi-like.

It’s very anthemic. It’s made for big crowds through big speakers. We wanted to write something that was anthemic because of the natural fit for arenas, stadiums and amphitheaters. It allows people to get involved into the live show. We’re very conscious of the live show whenever we’re writing. Not in a way to box us in but in a way to inspire us.

While it’s great that we have the technology to capture music and listen to it over and over again in our headphones or our cars, really music is a performing art and it’s meant to be experienced live. We are respectful of that aspect of it as a medium.

Photo by Will ByingtonSugarland's Jennifer Nettles, Kristian Bush and Travis McNabb onstage during the 2009 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell.

That was a hard show for me because I was dealing with some vocal problems. I was definitely enjoying it and trying my best to be in the moment, but also dealing with some outside challenges. I’d love to go back and do it now in healthy voice. It was definitely an experience.

It was a show must go on moment. You skipped songs you didn’t think you could sing properly, such as “Stay.”

We were calling audibles and making hard choices. But at the end of the day, we were there for the fans and wanted to be able to go out there and give it our best. They seemed to appreciate it and have a good time.

So if you get the chance, you’d like to come back to Jazz Fest and do it full-voiced.

Do it full-voiced and do it where I’m not playing the next night, so that I can go out and wave my own flag in the crowd, you know what I’m saying?